1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device which can be affixed on the body of a woman for continuously collecting urine both in the case of bedridden women and active women who are either continent or incontinent. More specifically the invention relates to a device which will alleviate the need for diapers and/or internal catheraters being worn by women with a problem of incontinence.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A variety of intravaginal urinals are known which are designed to be worn by the female for long periods of time and are designed for bedridden incontinent or otherwise incapacitated women. These devices usually have a member which is inserted between the labia minora of the user to rest flush up against the vestibule of user with an orifice of the device encompassing the external urethral orifice of the user and which may or may not have an anchoring post for anchoring the device to the vaginal passageway to prevent displacement of the alignment of the external urethral orifice and the orifice of the collector. They rely upon elastic straps to force the rigid surface of device to be tightly pressed against the body of the wearer to prevent leakage or seepage in all positions, sitting, lying or standing. Serious problems arise when such devices are used because of chaffing resulting from movement between the body surface of the wearer and the device. A high degree of pressurized contact of the device against the body to prevent leakage must be employed which causes the chaffing. Some in the art have even resorted to using a pitted surface on the device in an attempt to decrease the amount of pressure to form a seal but such a surface inherently increases the opportunity for abrasion.
To eliminate the problems which result from prior external collector means, hospitals and nursing homes still resort to internal catherization or diapering of incontinent patients and this results in both vastly decreased mobility of the patient which further debilitates the patient and to a very great risk of internal bladder and urethral infections. The use of diapers is a major cause of ulceration for patients.
The magnitude of the problem is clearly illustrated by the fact that surveys show that 40 percent of all hospitals acquired infections occur in the urinary track and that 75 percent of these are most often caused by the indwelling catheter. Other studies have shown that each decubitis ulcer increases the cost of medical for the unfortunate individual and when it occurs by thousands of dollars and that incontinence in the form of urine reduces the resistance of the skin to other physical factors and increases the risk of necrosis and decubitis ulceration.